Mac Danzig took ocregister.com readers along for the ride with his weekly blog while he competed on Spike TV’s hit reality series “The Ultimate Fighter 6.”

He gave his takes on everything that happened on screen and behind the scenes. He was open and honest throughout his triumphs and his embarrassing moments. Danzig ended up winning the welterweight tournament.

Amir Sadollah, 27, of Richmond, Va., is one of 32 up-and-coming middleweights that had to fight their way into the house on “The Ultimate Fighter 7.” Sadollah will give his thoughts and opinions on everything that happens this season with a his weekly blog for ocregister.com.

TUF 7 airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. and Sadollah’s blog will post immediately following each episode.

EPISODE 2

So my name is Amir Sadollah, and I have been fortunate enough to be a part or The Ultimate Fighter, Season 7.

I wanted to do a weekly episode blog, and am glad to be able to do it for the O.C. Register. I apologize for the late start, I wasn’t set up to do one last week, but since they both took place on the same day, most of this applies to the first episode as well.

The producers were adament about us showing up at 190 pounds and we were weighed right after we got off the plane.

The first day of filming was about 24 hours later so, when we were told that we would have to make 185 the next day, most of us were at or above 195. Sweet. I remember wearing a sauna suit in the shower of the hotel they put us up in, cutting weight the night before. A lot of us had to cut that way. I am still amazed we all made weight, essentially cutting down twice in two days was definitely taxing.

I was pleased with the way they showed most fights in there entirety this episode. All the fights were great, and with the skill, and heart these guys showed, they all would’ve easily been good enough to show on PPV.

For doing 16 fights in one day it went surprisingly quick, none but three went to decision, and the Ultimate Fighter staff had it down to a science. Forrest’s corners were great coaches, immediately engaging and picked up on our fight styles quickly. They had great game plans for us, especially considering we had known them for 48 hours. Mark Beetcher is a Muay Thai guy too, so we clicked right off the bat.

It didn’t make the air, but right before I went out to my fight (previous episode), concerned and nervous, I asked Cameron if I deserved to be there. He looked at me and said, “yes.” It seems small but I read a genuine confidence in his answer, and it really helped me. This was my first impression of Forrest’s camp, and I think a contributing factor to why the guys cornered by them tended to do well that day.

Matt Riddle, Dan Simmler, Dante Rivera, Matt Brown, Dan Cramer, Jeremiah Riggs, and myself were all in the same group for our interviews in Vegas so we all knew each other a bit before, and had hung out the last night of our interviews.

Matt Riddle vs. Dan Simmler:

Like I said, Matt and Dan were in the same group with me in interviews. I liked them both, and thought it was too bad only one of them could get in the house. Riddle was confident immediately after hearing who he was going to fight, showing his soon to be trademark grin. I didn’t see Dan too much before the fight, but when I did he seemed pretty mellow, almost sedate.

I thought the fight would end in submission for Simmler, but the first round was a battle, Riddle was very athletic and explosive, and kept away from all of Dan’s sub attempts. You could see how tired Dan was getting at the end of the first round, and you knew that it was not good.

I watched the knockout happen and none of us there realized how bad it was at first. When Dan didn’t get up, then started moaning, you could’ve heard a pin drop in the gym. We all kind  of hoped that the moans wouldn’t make the air, but of course, they did. Dan seemed not so much in pain, but more disoriented and concussed. We later heard he had broken his jaw. We all hated to see it happen, and hoped Dan would get well soon.

Luke Zachridge vs. Pat Schultz:

This was a great fight to watch. Pat came out hard and immediately put Luke on the defense. Luke likes to stand, but wisely read the weakness in Pat’s game and took him down to finish.

I talked to Pat breifly after his fight. He seemed like a really cool guy, and I was a little disappointed to see another Muay Thai guy have to go, but there was only so much room for guys with crazy hair in the house.

Tim Credeur vs. Eric Charles:

Tim’s fight was one or two after mine, so we talked a bit in the warm-up room. He was pretty jovial and laid back, but when I asked him what he knew about his opponent he got a serious look on his face and said, ” I know he’s gonna lose.”

With great intel form Cameron, Tim knew most of Eric’s losses were from submission. So Tim did the smart thing, took him down and took no chances.

They quoted him in the post-fight interview as saying something like, “I showed I’m a black belt.” Sounded cocky, but if I know Tim that was just a snippet of a self deprecating speech on how he could’ve fought better. Good ol’ Tim.

Brandon Sene vs. Aaron Meisner:

I didn’t really know either of these guys the first day, but what stuck out in my mind from watching the fight was Aaron’s great strikes and Brandon’s tenacity to get the takedown and finish. Brandon kept coming at him until he won. I was pretty impressed.

After the fight I saw Aaron with a big ice bag on his knee, he had apparently torn something during the fight.

Gerald Harris vs. Mike Marrello:

I had seen Gerald fight in the IFL, so his nasty takedowns, explosiveness, and good submission defense were no surprise. For being one of the decisions of the day, the fight was still good to watch. Mike was agressive, but Gerald’s nickname “The Hurricane” seems to have been given for a reason.

Dan Cramer vs. Jeremiah Riggs:

Wow. I know they were pressed for time but the highlight didn’t really do justice to this fight. It was literally 10 minutes of Dan getting mount, and Jeremiah boxing back, mounted. Dan played it smart by not dropping on an armbar. Jeremiah probably would’ve let him break it and hit him with his good hand.

Jesse Taylor vs. Nick Rossborough:

I met Nick in the interviews and knew that he trained with Jeremy Horn’s camp so I knew he would be tough. All I really knew about Jesse was he looked liked a mini Big John McCarthy.

Jesse came out and gave Nick no room to breathe, showing a nasty top game. Nick was cool, but getting to know Jesse, “JT Money” over the six weeks was an experience.

Matt “Tornado of Nails” Brown vs. Josh Hall:

I met Matt in the interviews and remember thinking how quiet he was and didn’t think they would put someone so reserved on the show. Watching him fight showed why he was there. Probably one of the best fights of the day. Josh and Matt BATTLED for the whole round, until Matt, at the limit of exhaustion, finished him with 4 seconds left in the round.

Matt quickly became and remains one of my good friends. At the end of the day, Dana’s speech was right on the money. There were NO losers there. Every single guy fought his heart out, and it was cool to hear that recognition from Dana’s mouth. Dana and the production crew were buzzing about how those were some of the best fights they’ve ever had on the show. It was definitely a good feeling to know we were a part of that, and set the stage for what are in my opinion, the best season of fights ever on TUF.

- Amir

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Amir Sadollah's Ultimate Fighter Blog, MMA, The Ultimate Fighter, Ultimate Fighting Championship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.